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Ella Gant, chair and associate professor of art, returned to her alma mater, the art department of the University of Texas at Austin, to present her work to students studying Transmedia. Gant was invited by William Lundberg, Marlene and Morton Meyerson Centennial Professor in Art and Art History, to discuss interconnections among video, film, performance, installation and digital technology as evidenced through her work with these media over the past 25 years.

Professor of Chinese De Bao Xu was invited to give two plenary talks at the annual Conference of Chinese Education last summer in China. He presented "The Crucialty of Learning Classical Chinese" at the Hainan session at Hainan Normal University, and "The First Step to Raise One's Reading and Writing Ability" at the conference's Wuhan Session at Hu Bei University.

Professor of Art History Rand Carter delivered a public lecture sponsored by the Landmarks Society of Greater Utica on March 11. The title of his presentation was "Sinan and the Golden Age of Ottoman Architecture."

Eight Hamilton College faculty members were approved for tenure by the College's Board of Trustees during their recent meeting. The Board granted tenure to Heather Buchman (music), Jennifer Irons (sociology), Masaaki Kamiya (East Asian languages and literatures), Katherine Kuharic (art), Mike McCormick (biology), Tara McKee (psychology), Kyoko Omori (East Asian languages and literatures) and Sharon Werning Rivera (government).

Associate Professor of Biology William A. Pfitsch and Ernest H. Williams, the Christian A. Johnson Excellence in Teaching Professor of Biology, have published the article "Habitat restoration for lupine and specialist butterflies" in Restoration Ecology 17(2):226-233.

The financial crisis hit global markets hard and fast, but it would be wrong to say that no one saw it coming. On Feb. 26, NYC Program students attended a talk by a Financial Times journalist who saw dark clouds approaching long before an unprecedented ice storm froze the markets. Martin Wolf, whose 2008 book Fixing Global Finance anticipated some of the causes of the crisis, discussed how the world got into such grave economic turmoil and a few scenarios on how it might get out.

Piruz Partow, musician and director of the Brooklyn School of Music, will perform at Hamilton on Wednesday, March 11, at 7 p.m. in the Fillius Events Barn. Partow plays the tar, a traditional Persian string instrument. The performance is free and open to the public.

Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack '72 was interviewed on NPR's Morning Edition on March 10 concerning proposed changes to farming. The former Iowa governor said farmers should see the Obama administration's new energy initiatives as opportunities to make new money, at a time when traditional farming policies run in the face of a soaring deficit. "Agriculture has to be open to change," Vilsack said. "…Climate change and energy provide that opportunity. "

In difficult times like these, we are fortunate to be graduates of Hamilton College. Our education provides a foundation of knowledge, personal values and sustaining friendships that endure. It was true when we were on the Hill. It is true today. Hamilton still fulfills the promise that students' dedication will be rewarded — their efforts will serve them well for a lifetime.  

Scott MacDonald, currently on leave teaching with the Visual and Environmental Studies Department at Harvard, was a keynote speaker at "Avant-Doc," a conference organized by the graduate students in cinema at the University of Iowa on March 6. MacDonald's talk, "When Worlds Collide," reviewed the history of the intersections between documentary filmmaking and avant-garde filmmaking.